I am copying the following from my friend's blog that she posted many years ago: (And I haven't seen her for many years as moves have taken us both to different parts of the country--but she is awesome and I miss her.)
"Where do all the dark church socks go? Is there a secret commune somewhere where missing socks can be found? We have 6 pair. I did ALL the laundry. Only one black sock. The rest are out partying somewhere, I guess...
So, I send a plea to the secret sock commune: Please send the socks home. We love them and miss them. We want them to be with us always. Socks, come home!"
Like Andrea, I wonder where all our dark socks go! I don't know how many pair we have--a lot because I have hand-me downs from the older boys plus others that I have bought I know just for the little boys. I have all sorts of mismatched dark socks of various sizes. Of course nobody notices much if they wear mismatched socks, but it is amazing how many shades of "dark" there are. I suppose I just need to throw them all away and buy about 10 new pair and see how long they last. Hopefully they won't be persuaded to join the secret sock commune. (buying new church socks has been on my 'list' for about a month now).
And speaking of church socks, the other day in church Andy was rubbing my leg which had nylons on it. After a minute or so he asked "Why do you wear those kind of socks?" "Well," I told him "because some person decided long ago for reasons unknown, that women were supposed to wear these kinds of socks." I suppose I could look up the history of pantyhose, but I won't. However, if you are interested you are welcome too.
Scott bought himself some new socks. Dark ones and tan ones to go with some of the new clothes he bought. He needed some slacks and dress shirts (but not necessarily white ones) because he GOT A JOB! He is not longer a stay at home worker. He is the controller at the community college here--San Juan College. This means that I have to do more ironing. But it also means lots of other things, like health insurance (as opposed to the private health insurance we currently have that costs a whole lot), and a more traditional family schedule of Dad going to work 8-5. We've had some adjustments but it is awesome. And he usually doesn't lose his socks because they always make it to the laundry hamper (unlike my socks). But only time will tell of course.
November 12, 2012
November 6, 2012
Conversations with a First Grader
On a Saturday Morning:
Me: Come on. We need to go to Janessa's soccer game.
Cam: I don't want to go.
Me: I know but you have to. Dad is at Andy's game and Brennen isn't here. You can't stay here by yourself.
Cam: Why?
Me: Because you are only 6.
Cam (arguing back): Ya! I'm six and I can even make my own toast!
At Home Depot:
Cam: Can I buy this flashlight? It is $5 and Andy says I have 89 cents.
Me: Well you need 500 and 89 cents.
Cam: ARE YOU SEWIOUS!!?? FIVE HUNDWED CENTS!!??!!
Cameron is so much fun. "Seriously" and "actually" are about his favorite words. However, he is the baby of the family so I realize that I don't give him all the responsibility he needs and do way too much for him. So I am working on that. Making his own toast is a step in the right direction!
Me: Come on. We need to go to Janessa's soccer game.
Cam: I don't want to go.
Me: I know but you have to. Dad is at Andy's game and Brennen isn't here. You can't stay here by yourself.
Cam: Why?
Me: Because you are only 6.
Cam (arguing back): Ya! I'm six and I can even make my own toast!
At Home Depot:
Cam: Can I buy this flashlight? It is $5 and Andy says I have 89 cents.
Me: Well you need 500 and 89 cents.
Cam: ARE YOU SEWIOUS!!?? FIVE HUNDWED CENTS!!??!!
Cameron is so much fun. "Seriously" and "actually" are about his favorite words. However, he is the baby of the family so I realize that I don't give him all the responsibility he needs and do way too much for him. So I am working on that. Making his own toast is a step in the right direction!
October 13, 2012
Mom Powers
I don't know if it is just my kids, or if all kids think their moms have x-ray vision and radar ears.
Child #1 is playing on the computer and takes a bathroom break. He calls me from the bathroom. I go to the door and he tries to tell me something about the computer. This is my child who doesn't speak very well--has what is called articulation issues. I think I can understand him great until I get in the car with him or he is on the other side of the bathroom door. Since it is not a "bathroom issue" I tell him to talk me when he is out of the bathroom. When he gets out of the bathroom he is a little frustrated that I didn't do whatever it is he wanted me to do on the computer.
Child #2 is putting away the laundry. Hooray! I am in the kitchen cleaning up with the water on. She is in the living room where the laundry is on the couch. She tries to talk to me and I yell "I can't hear you the water is on. Come in here." I continue to hear her voice though I can't make out any words. After I turn off the water she asks loudly "Are these Dad's?" Because of course I have I can see through the wall to the other room to see what she is referring too.
I guess I should be flattered that my kids think I have super powers and can see and hear them wherever they are in the house. However, as of yet, I have not developed x-ray vision or radar ears.
Child #1 is playing on the computer and takes a bathroom break. He calls me from the bathroom. I go to the door and he tries to tell me something about the computer. This is my child who doesn't speak very well--has what is called articulation issues. I think I can understand him great until I get in the car with him or he is on the other side of the bathroom door. Since it is not a "bathroom issue" I tell him to talk me when he is out of the bathroom. When he gets out of the bathroom he is a little frustrated that I didn't do whatever it is he wanted me to do on the computer.
Child #2 is putting away the laundry. Hooray! I am in the kitchen cleaning up with the water on. She is in the living room where the laundry is on the couch. She tries to talk to me and I yell "I can't hear you the water is on. Come in here." I continue to hear her voice though I can't make out any words. After I turn off the water she asks loudly "Are these Dad's?" Because of course I have I can see through the wall to the other room to see what she is referring too.
I guess I should be flattered that my kids think I have super powers and can see and hear them wherever they are in the house. However, as of yet, I have not developed x-ray vision or radar ears.
October 4, 2012
Too Much Red Stuff
This week was pretty uneventful I suppose. Not too many kids running in and out of my house. This is not always the case however.
We live across the street from a nice large park. And this spring, summer and fall there have been a lot of kids at the park between the ages of 6 and 12. My kids' age range. And so there is not a lack of playmates for my children. That is good. I know I complained about lack of friends and play-dates before, but we certainly don't have that problem anymore.
Those kids who play at the park, well their houses are not across the street from the park. And the kids seem to gravitate to my house a lot. There are mainly 4 families including mine that make up this gang of kids, with some other kids thrown in here and there. I am happy that my children are entertained and not sitting in front of the TV but there are times that it gets to be too much. There are times when I want to hang a sign on the door:
DO NOT KNOCK ON MY DOOR!
MY KIDS CANNOT PLAY RIGHT NOW
YOU CANNOT USE MY BATHROOM
YOU CANNOT HAVE A DRINK OF WATER
I HAVE BAND-AIDS BUT YOU CAN'T HAVE ONE RIGHT NOW
WE OUR OUT OF OTTER-POPS DESPITE WHAT ANDY SAYS
WE MOVED
I am happy that the kids like our house. And our trampoline (we bought a new one--I just can't be a mom without a trampoline). and our backyard and climbing the tree in our front yard. Yes, I am too nice but I do send them back to the park whenever I want. And I don't give them otter-pops, Andy does. And I started making them get a drink out of the hose. (I drank out of the hose when I was a kid and I am fine, I think).
A few weeks ago though there was blood. Twice!
First of all, I come home from somewhere and there are boys running through the house being chased by my son with a cordless drill. Which he is turning on as he chases. And Janessa is in the mix too. I get upset, send Andy to time-out and send everyone else back to the park, but not before I lecture them that "TOOLS ARE NOT TOYS" and did nobody think that was a little dangerous?!? I make sure Andy says that "tools are not toys" like 20 times and tell him that him and his friends need to stay out of the garage. (by the way, my hubby was home but downstairs I think).
Not 10 minutes after I send them all out of my house they come back. One kid's head is bleeding and he is screaming out of control because his hand is covered with the blood so he is freaked out. His brother is crying because he was the one that threw the item that hit the bleeding kid so he is feeling bad. However, the bleeding stops, both boys are consoled by my husband and after washing him up I drive the hurt one home. The sad thing about this story is the parents weren't home and neither boy knew their parents' phone number. What if it had been a bad injury? moral of the story--I made sure all my kids know our phone numbers.
The next incident was on a Saturday not even two weeks past the first one. Boys again. a different group this time. Hubby is gone and I am parked on the couch because I had just had surgery 3 days before (another story for another day). I think Andy is at the park but a kid comes in "Can you help my brother." I am thinking no, I don't want to get off the couch and go outside. "He is bleeding." great. more blood. Where? "In the backyard. He stepped on something". My older son goes out to help and I manage to finally make it out there. Apparently he stepped on something in our grass and cut his foot.
I go outside. The sun is very bright. There is blood everywhere on the cement and his foot. The kids are chattering away. One has the hose on wondering if he should wash the blood up or wash the foot. I am overwhelmed. I feel like I am going to pass out. Luckily I had my cell phone in my hand so I quickly texted my neighbor who came right over. She took care of everything ordering kids to get paper towels and whatever. I did bring gauze and tape out but didn't have the presence of mind to do anything with it. and Andy had bandaids. The cut again wasn't bad but deep. He didn't need stitches. He did know his phone number and his big sister came and helped him home.
Yes I love living by the park. I love the view from my window. I love how nice the city keeps it. I love watching people. I love having close access. Yet, every once in a while I think maybe we should move.
We live across the street from a nice large park. And this spring, summer and fall there have been a lot of kids at the park between the ages of 6 and 12. My kids' age range. And so there is not a lack of playmates for my children. That is good. I know I complained about lack of friends and play-dates before, but we certainly don't have that problem anymore.
Those kids who play at the park, well their houses are not across the street from the park. And the kids seem to gravitate to my house a lot. There are mainly 4 families including mine that make up this gang of kids, with some other kids thrown in here and there. I am happy that my children are entertained and not sitting in front of the TV but there are times that it gets to be too much. There are times when I want to hang a sign on the door:
DO NOT KNOCK ON MY DOOR!
MY KIDS CANNOT PLAY RIGHT NOW
YOU CANNOT USE MY BATHROOM
YOU CANNOT HAVE A DRINK OF WATER
I HAVE BAND-AIDS BUT YOU CAN'T HAVE ONE RIGHT NOW
WE OUR OUT OF OTTER-POPS DESPITE WHAT ANDY SAYS
WE MOVED
I am happy that the kids like our house. And our trampoline (we bought a new one--I just can't be a mom without a trampoline). and our backyard and climbing the tree in our front yard. Yes, I am too nice but I do send them back to the park whenever I want. And I don't give them otter-pops, Andy does. And I started making them get a drink out of the hose. (I drank out of the hose when I was a kid and I am fine, I think).
A few weeks ago though there was blood. Twice!
First of all, I come home from somewhere and there are boys running through the house being chased by my son with a cordless drill. Which he is turning on as he chases. And Janessa is in the mix too. I get upset, send Andy to time-out and send everyone else back to the park, but not before I lecture them that "TOOLS ARE NOT TOYS" and did nobody think that was a little dangerous?!? I make sure Andy says that "tools are not toys" like 20 times and tell him that him and his friends need to stay out of the garage. (by the way, my hubby was home but downstairs I think).
Not 10 minutes after I send them all out of my house they come back. One kid's head is bleeding and he is screaming out of control because his hand is covered with the blood so he is freaked out. His brother is crying because he was the one that threw the item that hit the bleeding kid so he is feeling bad. However, the bleeding stops, both boys are consoled by my husband and after washing him up I drive the hurt one home. The sad thing about this story is the parents weren't home and neither boy knew their parents' phone number. What if it had been a bad injury? moral of the story--I made sure all my kids know our phone numbers.
The next incident was on a Saturday not even two weeks past the first one. Boys again. a different group this time. Hubby is gone and I am parked on the couch because I had just had surgery 3 days before (another story for another day). I think Andy is at the park but a kid comes in "Can you help my brother." I am thinking no, I don't want to get off the couch and go outside. "He is bleeding." great. more blood. Where? "In the backyard. He stepped on something". My older son goes out to help and I manage to finally make it out there. Apparently he stepped on something in our grass and cut his foot.
I go outside. The sun is very bright. There is blood everywhere on the cement and his foot. The kids are chattering away. One has the hose on wondering if he should wash the blood up or wash the foot. I am overwhelmed. I feel like I am going to pass out. Luckily I had my cell phone in my hand so I quickly texted my neighbor who came right over. She took care of everything ordering kids to get paper towels and whatever. I did bring gauze and tape out but didn't have the presence of mind to do anything with it. and Andy had bandaids. The cut again wasn't bad but deep. He didn't need stitches. He did know his phone number and his big sister came and helped him home.
Yes I love living by the park. I love the view from my window. I love how nice the city keeps it. I love watching people. I love having close access. Yet, every once in a while I think maybe we should move.
August 20, 2012
Changes
Last fall my life entered a new phase--all the kids started school full-time. For the first time in 17 years I had no preschoolers at home.
This year brings a bigger change--my first born is off to college in another state. Our little family (or big depending on your perspective) will never be quite the same again. It is a good change I know. but it will be different around here for sure. For one thing I lost my helpful driver. Now I will have to drive the kids around myself and can't ask Dustin to stop by the grocery store for milk on his way home from work, or take the Redbox movie back that I keep forgetting about. I also lost my best dishwasher unloader--the job I like least in the house. And I won't get to hear him bless the sacrament in church anymore. Or have his humor at the dinner table. Or get to watch him interact with his 6 year-old brother when asked to play action figures.
The other big change that effected our family this summer was The Business. The business that we bought just over 4 years ago is gone, which Scott worked and I helped with now and then is gone. He sold it this summer. No more filing documents to the SEC for other companies. No more deadline days, preceded by a week or so of long hours and little sleep for Scott. It was good to us. Or rather Scott made it good to us. He was an awesome business owner and kept clients happy with his attention to detail and hard work ethic. But he felt it was time for a change, found a buyer, and sold it.
He is now "semi-retired". For a few months anyway while he decides what comes next. He hasn't had a whole lot of down time since he stopped working--Scout camp, youth conference, family reunion, and some yard work, taking the kids swimming and biking and motorcycling, Eagle project help. He did buy a mountain bike and is enjoying this new found hobby, and enjoying more time for running. He running in the Ragnar next summer in Utah.
And I am thinking maybe it is time for me to get a job. But part-time. Because I don't think I could ever handle full-time. I am too spoiled. But maybe full-time could be an option I suppose if there were to someone else to do the laundry, and the cleaning and cooking, and the chauffeuring, the grocery shopping, and . . . hmmm, I wonder if there is such a person available...
This year brings a bigger change--my first born is off to college in another state. Our little family (or big depending on your perspective) will never be quite the same again. It is a good change I know. but it will be different around here for sure. For one thing I lost my helpful driver. Now I will have to drive the kids around myself and can't ask Dustin to stop by the grocery store for milk on his way home from work, or take the Redbox movie back that I keep forgetting about. I also lost my best dishwasher unloader--the job I like least in the house. And I won't get to hear him bless the sacrament in church anymore. Or have his humor at the dinner table. Or get to watch him interact with his 6 year-old brother when asked to play action figures.
The other big change that effected our family this summer was The Business. The business that we bought just over 4 years ago is gone, which Scott worked and I helped with now and then is gone. He sold it this summer. No more filing documents to the SEC for other companies. No more deadline days, preceded by a week or so of long hours and little sleep for Scott. It was good to us. Or rather Scott made it good to us. He was an awesome business owner and kept clients happy with his attention to detail and hard work ethic. But he felt it was time for a change, found a buyer, and sold it.
He is now "semi-retired". For a few months anyway while he decides what comes next. He hasn't had a whole lot of down time since he stopped working--Scout camp, youth conference, family reunion, and some yard work, taking the kids swimming and biking and motorcycling, Eagle project help. He did buy a mountain bike and is enjoying this new found hobby, and enjoying more time for running. He running in the Ragnar next summer in Utah.
And I am thinking maybe it is time for me to get a job. But part-time. Because I don't think I could ever handle full-time. I am too spoiled. But maybe full-time could be an option I suppose if there were to someone else to do the laundry, and the cleaning and cooking, and the chauffeuring, the grocery shopping, and . . . hmmm, I wonder if there is such a person available...
August 7, 2012
Last Week of Summer Vacation
Oh what do you do in the summertime if your trampoline broke?
Yes, sadly the trampoline got a rip in it so it is dead. Thank goodness it happened the last week of summer because I don't know what the kids would do if they couldn't jump with the sprinkler under the tramp at least 3 or 4 times per week multiple times a day it seems. This does result in a mess of wet clothes but a small price to pay for happy busy kids. I tried to make the rule they had to change into their swimming suit before getting wet so we didn't go through so many clothes, but sometimes it happens (the swimming suit) and sometimes it doesn't. (Sometimes I am too lax on rules I know).
And what are the neighbor kids going to do? maybe find another house to visit that has a trampoline. Ironically it was the teenagers that were on it when it broke. Funny cuz they rarely come over and even less rarely jump.
Janessa is so excited for the first day of school. The boys haven't said much. I was actually on top of things this year and shopped for school supplies before the last minute when the supply is limited. Yay for me! however, I found out later that if I had waited one more day I wouldn't have had to pay sales tax because New Mexico had 3 days of no sales tax for school supplies and clothes, etc. But that's okay. I would have saved about $5 but at least I got it done without fighting crowds. Janessa has her backpack packed and ready to go. I don't think the boys have even looked at the school supplies. The difference between boys and girls.
Yesterday we went to the elemantary school to find out teachers. Andy and Janessa both have new teachers to the school and they are both men. I think that is very cool. This is the last year the 3 little ones will all be in elementary. Brennen gets to pick up his schedule today. He is half-way through the book "The Count of Monte Cristo" he is supposed to have read and assignments done by the 1st day of school for his AP English Class.
This week Brennen is doing his Scout Eagle Project. Hooray! Two Eagle projects in the family in a little over 3 months. He is replanting the flower beds in front of the local aquatic center and putting a split rail fence around it.
And after that I guess we are ready for school to start next Tuesday!
Yes, sadly the trampoline got a rip in it so it is dead. Thank goodness it happened the last week of summer because I don't know what the kids would do if they couldn't jump with the sprinkler under the tramp at least 3 or 4 times per week multiple times a day it seems. This does result in a mess of wet clothes but a small price to pay for happy busy kids. I tried to make the rule they had to change into their swimming suit before getting wet so we didn't go through so many clothes, but sometimes it happens (the swimming suit) and sometimes it doesn't. (Sometimes I am too lax on rules I know).
And what are the neighbor kids going to do? maybe find another house to visit that has a trampoline. Ironically it was the teenagers that were on it when it broke. Funny cuz they rarely come over and even less rarely jump.
Janessa is so excited for the first day of school. The boys haven't said much. I was actually on top of things this year and shopped for school supplies before the last minute when the supply is limited. Yay for me! however, I found out later that if I had waited one more day I wouldn't have had to pay sales tax because New Mexico had 3 days of no sales tax for school supplies and clothes, etc. But that's okay. I would have saved about $5 but at least I got it done without fighting crowds. Janessa has her backpack packed and ready to go. I don't think the boys have even looked at the school supplies. The difference between boys and girls.
Yesterday we went to the elemantary school to find out teachers. Andy and Janessa both have new teachers to the school and they are both men. I think that is very cool. This is the last year the 3 little ones will all be in elementary. Brennen gets to pick up his schedule today. He is half-way through the book "The Count of Monte Cristo" he is supposed to have read and assignments done by the 1st day of school for his AP English Class.
This week Brennen is doing his Scout Eagle Project. Hooray! Two Eagle projects in the family in a little over 3 months. He is replanting the flower beds in front of the local aquatic center and putting a split rail fence around it.
And after that I guess we are ready for school to start next Tuesday!
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